


The End Is The Beginning Is The End

by gracefulally



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-22
Updated: 2012-12-22
Packaged: 2017-11-21 23:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/603322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracefulally/pseuds/gracefulally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minutes before Peter is defeated in Season 1 of Teen Wolf, Derek is knocked out. He and dying Kate are left inside the Hale house while the fight heads outside. This is Derek's farewell to his first love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End Is The Beginning Is The End

**Author's Note:**

> Ficlet title from the Smashing Pumpkins song of the same name

There was a moment when Derek was down, kissing the floorboards, that he considered not getting up. After all, he had been thrown there, utterly discarded and he hit hard enough to knock him out. He was unconscious for only a few seconds, but that was long enough for the nasty fisticuffs between Peter and Scott to move outdoors. Allison followed and her scent waned the moment she was gone. In fact, when Derek roused, he didn’t immediately sense anyone but Kate. He was overwhelmed by Kate. The scent of her blood and tears hit him strong, and pulled his attention. Something within in told him to get up and do something. He wasn’t quite sure what he should do, but kicking Kate while she was down did sound appealing.

Derek pushed and dragged himself to slowly get to his knees. He shook his head gently before stretching his neck to gain some focus as the throbbing pain lulled. Lifting into a crouch, he glanced toward the lifeless body on the floor behind him. Well, almost lifeless. Her heartbeat was weak and slowing, but it was still there. He knew he had to check on her, if only to make sure she wasn’t going to get back up and make everything worse. She couldn’t have much fight left, Peter had ripped her throat out, after all.

Such a rough way to go, having to suffer the final minutes in agony. Derek supposed a painful death was something that Kate deserved, but still, he knew he would’ve never been able to do this himself. It had to be Peter — just like he was going to have to regain his footing and stop his uncle from killing Scott or die trying. Either way, Derek’s life was about to change massively and he knew it was coming.

Standing over Kate, Derek pulled on her shoulder with his foot to roll her to her back and get a better look at her wounds. Tears had run tracks down either side of Kate’s ashen face and Derek could tell she was resigning to her fate. She should’ve known that death was inevitable when she came back to Beacon Hills looking to finish off what she started, but she hadn’t done that. Not exactly. Kate had strung up Derek and put him on show for the other hunters, including her niece, but she hadn’t killed him. Derek didn’t understand why not and he couldn’t really ask, now. Kate was a wheezy, sputtering mess and the more she struggled to hold on, the more she writhed and coughed, and it just made the gory mess of her neck worse.

There was a sudden flash of light outside and Peter let out a snarling roar. Derek’s attention jerked up and his eyes flashed icy blue, but before he could take a step, a hand grabbed the ankle of his jeans. Kate’s eyes were pleading with him as she held on weakly and continued to writhe and twitch, making more disgusting, breathy noises. Derek didn’t know what he was supposed to do. She had maybe a minute or two left so there was no point in calling emergency. He almost wanted to try, though. The sudden vulnerability in her glassy gaze was something he’d never seen, but the memories it drew out of him made Derek ache.

“You know I can’t bite you,” Derek said quietly as he knelt at Kate’s side and his eyes dulled back in the darkness. “You’re too far gone.”

Kate sneered and Derek knew that wasn’t what she wanted. Actually, he was pretty sure she was offended even while she was dying. She seemed to ignore the comment as she made weak and spastic grabs at him until he noticed that she was going for his hand. Derek’s jaw set and he took hers before she squeezed, eyeing him with the more sincerity than he’d ever seen from her. Derek’s attention was drawn away when he heard Chris yelling outside. Kate’s body quaked as she tried to squeeze harder and narrowed her brow, and Derek realized why she was scared.

“I can’t make promises I can’t keep, Kate,” Derek said before he met her eyes. “I can’t protect them and if they come after me, I have to defend myself, but I won’t kill them if I don’t have to.”

Kate drooped then, seemingly relieved. She was listless and Derek could tell she would be gone in seconds, and that would be it — Kate would be gone from his life. Forever.

Mouth tightening up, Derek took Kate’s hand again and swallowed roughly as he watched her slip away. “Still think I’m just a dumb animal?” he demanded, voice weaker than he intended. Kate went abruptly limp and she was gone.

Bowing his head, Derek laid down her hand and stood quickly to glance outside. The house was eerily quiet and he could smell burnt flesh — Peter’s flesh. The scent was abhorrent and brought back painful, gut-wrenching memories of that day when he was sixteen, when he and Laura rushed home to find their house in ruin and their family, dead. The breath Derek took was shaky and he approached the house’s front door quickly. The scene outside made him stiffen and hew knew that his fate was decided, too.

Derek was going to be an Alpha and he was going to have a lot of work to do.


End file.
